Analytical Equipment &
Computer Facilities
Geochemistry Laboratories
The geochemistry laboratories in the Department of Geological
Sciences are the core facilities of a program that integrates
modern analytical techniques into the environmental geochemistry,
hydrogeology, and volcanology teaching and research programs.
Funding for these laboratories was provided by the M. J.
Murdock Charitable Trust, the National Science Foundation, and
matching state funds.
Departmental facilities include:
Rock sample preparation
facilities, including a ball mill, magnetic separator, rock saws
and thin section equipment;
An automated Philips PW 3400 Powder X-Ray
Diffractometer for single and multiphase characterization.
Philips software includes modern routines for peak location,
searchable ICCD Powder Diffraction File (2000) database for phase
identification (organic and inorganic), particle size and strain
analysis, quantitative analysis, and full Rietveldt Refinement.
The instrument is easy for undergraduate students to learn to use
for precise work and powerful enough for a full spectrum of x-ray
diffraction research projects;
A HEPA-filtered,
positive-pressure clean laboratory, equipped with a 4 ft.
perchloric fume hood, a 6 ft. exhaust fume hood, a 4 ft. laminar
flow hood, and an RO/nanopure water purification system, for
dissolution of soils and rocks and elemental separation for
waters, soils, and rocks;
A stable isotope
laboratory for extraction of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen;
A ThermoElemental
X-series inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, equipped
with a ASX-510 Cetac autosampler, for major and trace element
analyses of earth materials;
A ThermoFinnigan
DeltaPlus XP gas source mass spectrometer for analysis of the
isotopes of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Tools
The department is equipped with digital surveying equipment:
Leica
Total stations and Trimble 4700 and
5700 kinematic GPS devices, computer hardware, and software. The
department has Nikon and Leica petrographic microscopes and
research polarizing reflected and transmitting light microscopes
with CCD-video camera displays.
Computer Facilities
The department has excellent computer facilities for
instruction and research.
These include numerous Windows, Mac and Linux workstations
supported by department servers for file storage and
numerical processing. JPL's GIPSY and
GAMIT -
GLOBK GPS data reduction software is available. CWU has a site
license for ArcGIS for GIS work.
Geodesy Laboratory
The Geodesy Laboratory
is the data processing center for the Pacific Northwest Geodetic Array (PANGA).
In addition, the Lab also analyzes data from roughly 1000 GPS stations that
comprise the EarthScope
Plate Boundary Observatory, whose stations span the
Pacific-North American tectonic plate boundary from Alaska to Mexico. The Laboratory
analyses continuous data from the permanent GPS array in the
Pacific Northwest. The Lab also conducts GPS experiments and
analyzes data from southern California, northern Baja California
and in the Pacific Northwest. The Geodesy Laboratory has a pool
of Trimble SSi, 4700, and 5700 receivers for geodetic
experiments.
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For students interested in Luminescence dating methods for
Quaternary deposits, we offer a collaborative masters degree
program with Dr. Glen Berger, Desert Reseach Institute,
University of Nevada.
